About

The mission statement or purpose of USG is to nurture, foster and promote the art form and practice of storytelling.

You may be a listener. You may be a storyteller. You may be both.

No matter your experience, you have a story with the Utah Storytelling Guild, whether this is your first time learning about us or if you were one of the founding members in 1991. The Utah Storytelling Guild has a standing invitation to anyone and everyone to participate in the art, listener or teller.

After attending the 1st Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, Nancy Alder, Syd Riggs, Keith Rogers, and Marsha Broadway were so inspired that they decided to do something that would promote storytelling all year round.

The first members to join were Debi Richan and then Terra Allen. To join, they had to tell a story and pay $8.00 for yearly dues (fee based on March 1993 newsletter). No longer are members required to tell a story to be “official”, though attending the meeting may naturally find some stories leaving the mouth and going out into the world.

Since 1991, the Guild has voted upon three lifetime memberships: Nancy Alder, Karen Ashton, and Debi Richan. These recognized people have greatly shaped how storytelling is enjoyed and regarded within the state and beyond.

The original guild name was “Utah Storyteller’s Guild”. The name changed to “Utah Storytelling Guild” after members spent time with and picked the brain of national storyteller Donald Davis and of all the storytelling groups he had dealt with over the years.

According to Davis, by using the word “’Storytelling’…implied promotion of tellers being incidental to the real, acknowledged purpose of the group.”

The Utah Storytelling Guild has a standing invitation to anyone and everyone to participate in the art, as a listener or a teller. Join us!